Nordic Food Is a Doorway for Scandinavian Spirits

Nick Detrich makes a Boss Colada.CreditCreditCheryl Gerber for The New York Times

By Robert Simonson

March 3, 2015

The New Nordic cuisine is no longer the new kid on the culinary block. All grown up, it has even acquired some drinking companions.

Bittermens, a New Orleans company, has taken to plundering the flavors and forms of Scandinavian spirits, looking for new products to import or create.

So far, the search has produced three distinctive drinks: Baska Snaps, a bitter liqueur flavored with wormwood; Solstandet, a malted aquavit; and Salmiakki Dala, which Bittermens describes as a Norse take on fernet, the bitter digestive common to Italy.

The company’s owners, Avery and Janet Glasser, have created a subsidiary, DALA Spirits, to house the new line, which they plan to expand. Mr. Glasser said he was “taking the idea of the Nordic culinary movement and trying to apply that to spirits.”

These unusual liquids don’t quite taste like anything else. The Baska Snaps (the name means “bitter schnapps”) is bracingly herbal, with strong, lingering notes of caraway and anise. The Solstandet comes off as a cross between aquavit and the malted Dutch gin genever, with hints of un-aged whiskey. Salmiakki Dala tastes like liquid black licorice, savory and saline.

None are what you would call glad-handing liquors that make friends easily. Nonetheless, they have met with surprising success. Mr. Glasser said he had expected to sell 10 to 20 cases of Baska Snaps in the United States when he introduced it in 2013. Instead, he sold 200 in the first few months.

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CreditCheryl Gerber for The New York Times

The New Orleans bar Cane & Table has been a heavy adopter. At one point, four of the nine cocktails on its menu contained Baska Snaps.

“I married a Swedish woman,” said Nick Detrich, an owner. “That definitely helps.” He said Baska Snaps “works well in a lot of different formats.”

“It works in rich, stirred drinks,” he continued. “It works well in tropical drinks.” The Boss Colada, a kind of bitter piña colada that uses a full ounce of the liqueur, was the bar’s best-selling drink last year.

The Firehouse Lounge in Austin, Tex., is one of a few bars going so far as to put Baska Snaps on tap. “It’s slowly replacing Fernet Branca as our ‘bartender’s choice’ shot,” said Matt Thompson, the bar manager. “It’s weird and awesome.”

Scandinavians have a long tradition of drinking chilled drams of aquavit infused with bitter herbs, but the practice is fading. Determined to stave off its demise, Mr. Glasser created Baska Snaps, which he sold first in Sweden. When the locals approved, he figured it was good enough for Americans. “If it didn’t work well on the Swedish palate, then it was a failure,” Mr. Glasser said.

Unlike Baska Snaps, the other two products are not faithful evocations of traditional elixirs. The malted aquavit was Mr. Avery’s way of giving the light-bodied aquavit (he described it as “all top notes and aromatics”) some extra heft. The new creation has inspired a lot of Bloody Marys, he said.

The Salmiakki Dala merges the traditional flavors of fernet with those of the salted licorice candies common to Nordic climes. “The adoption curve on it as fast, if not a little faster, than the Baska,” Mr. Glasser said.

With the odds so far working in his favor, Mr. Glasser said he is “getting even more obscure.” The next Bittermens imports will be Birkir Birch Schnapps and Bjork Birch Liqueur from Foss distillery, just outside Reykjavik, Iceland. Bittermens will eventually have equity in the distillery after transferring all its DALA Spirits production there. At this rate, Greenland spirits may not be far off.